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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22481506">Meeting Over Tea</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tockipped/pseuds/Tockipped'>Tockipped</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Those Who Make Friends With Beasts [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Non-Consensual Drug Use</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 13:02:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,120</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22481506</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tockipped/pseuds/Tockipped</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Marianne simply wants to be left alone. But her house leader insists on meeting her. And what better way to meet someone than over a cup of tea.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Marianne von Edmund &amp; Claude von Riegan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Those Who Make Friends With Beasts [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1617538</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Meeting Over Tea</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Marianne von Edmund was cursed, a monsterous beast in human clothing, blending in with those around her. She stays away from the others. Not wanting them caught in her misfortunes. Her curse. Nothing has happened at Garreg Mach yet, but it will. It's only a matter of time. Misfortune follows her like her own shadow. Plaguing those unfortunate enough to stay near. Her crest will be someone's end. As it happened to her parents before. Gone. No idea what or how it happened. Marianne was never fully sure herself. But it had to have been because of her cursed crest that flowed through her blood. The crest of the beast.</p><p>She hated her crest. Why was she given such a burden? If she were to have a crest, why could it not have been any other? Other crests were seen as blessings. Those who bore them, a greatness given by the Goddess. The Goddess, Sothis. The Goddess she prayed to every night, praying for no more than salvation. For death to end her nightmare. Her curse to be broken. Sothis did not care for her. Why would she? Who would care for someone like Marianne, someone who's existence was nothing but despair. Would she succumb to that despair? Would she become the beast she feared she was deep down? Would her classmates see the monster she was and in the end put her down like one?</p><p>Being from the Leicester Alliance she and her classmates were placed within the Golden Deer house. How ironic. A beast amongst deer. Predator amongst prey. The other deer looked happy. Carefree even. Laughter and jokes and kindness surrounding every word they said. She never spoke to many of them. Not wanting to ruin the feeling for the rest of her class. At least she could do that much as a kindness. Unfortunately it would seem that some of her classmates would not allow her to provide that kindness.</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>The first of them was Claude von Reigan. It made sense that he would have to introduce himself to her, even if she didn't want him to. Being the leader of the Golden Deer for that year, it was his responsibility to know all of the students, and unfortunately that did include her. Having finished setting up her room after one of the church monks showed her where it was, he came to greet her with a knock on the door.</p><p>"Hello, is this the room of…" a slight pause followed, along with what sounded a bit like notes being shuffled around. "Marianne von Edmund?"</p><p>"Yes it is. I'm sorry though, I don't believe I can be of much help to you."</p><p>"Not to worry." At least the voice knew how to be reassuring. "You'll be more than enough help just by letting me in for a few minutes."</p><p>That sounded easy enough, even she could do that right. Moving from her chair, she opened the door for her mysterious visitor. The man on the other side of the door, looked to be about her age, and maybe half a foot taller. His skin was more tan than anyone else she had seen, perhaps he spent most of him time out in the sun. What was more interesting was he wasn't wearing one of the standard academy uniforms like herself and the other students.</p><p>"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Claude von Reigan. And I will be acting as this year's Golden Deer house leader." Adding to his greeting a polite bow. The greeting sounded genuine enough, though the wording sounded a little scripted. The rest, at the very least felt more natural for him. "As house leader, I have to make sure everyone in our house is accounted for before classes officially start, as well as let people know that there will be a meeting for all Golden Deer students in the common area later tonight."</p><p>"I see. It is nice to meet you Claude." It wasn't that nice to meet him. It wasn't nice to meet anyone. She already at least knew of him, though only by name until now, because of her adoptive father, Margrave Edmund. She also knew that Claude von Reigan was named as next in line to lead the Leicester Alliance by his grandfather, the current Duke Reigan. Now said heir was currently outside her door. Trying to meet her. That wouldn't be good. Meeting him meant possibly being close to him, and being close meant he could be victim to her curse. If anything were to happen to him because of her curse. No, she didn't want to think of that. "Was there anything else you needed from me?"</p><p>"Actually yes there was, at least if you allow me, consider it a part of that whole help me for a few minutes thing." What would the heir of the alliance need permission from someone like her to do? "While it isn't a part of my official duty before classes start, I'm spending a bit of time each day to get to know everyone on a more personal level."</p><p>"That's very kind of you to do. I don't believe I would make for good company though." Nice and direct. All she had to do was avoid spending time with people and she would be all set.</p><p>"Come now, I insist. I'm sure you're terrific company." How could someone say something like that about her and make it sound genuine. As though he truly believed it himself. How could he though? Claude had never met her, he didn't know her past. If things went her way, no one would find out either. "I'd be happy to treat you to a cup of tea. Always a great was to get to know someone."</p><p>Having tea together? She liked tea, by herself at least. She never had tea with anyone else before. Her crest would probably cause theirs to be poisoned or something. Or be extra hot and burn them. It didn't matter what, but she wouldn't let her curse be responsible for ruining someone's time. But Claude looked so earnest though. Like he saw something that she didn't about herself. Without a tea pot, or treats to go with it, or even cups. How would one even offer to host tea if they didn't have any tea.</p><p>"Um Claude? It doesn't look like you have anything with you, and I don't have a tea set of my own." She even made it sound convincingly like she was disappointed in this. She found a way out. "It looks like we won't be able to have tea together after all." That time the disappointment was a little real. No one really ever wanted to spend time with her, and here he is offering her a cup of tea. Thinking about it, it almost sounded nice. Like she could be a normal person. Claude however was unfazed. Actually he even looked a bit smug.</p><p>Reaching for something a bit to his right, just out of her sight, he pulled up an entire tea trolley. It had everything needed for a good tea time on it. It must have been there the whole time. "One must always be prepared. And I've got most every type of tea under the sun." Claude had his hands on the cart, ready to roll it into her room. He was really set on having this happen it would seem. "And since you're kind enough to let us use your room, I'll even let you pick what kind of tea we drink." </p><p>It would just be one cup. That wouldn't be bad would it? Besides, maybe if she went with it, he'd realize just how depressing she was and he'd leave her alone after. Plus she always had a soft spot for her favorite tea. She was going to go for it. She couldn't believe she was going to go for it.</p><p>No. Marianne would not allow people to get close to her. She would not put them in harms way.</p><p>"I suppose one cup wouldn't be bad. Do you have lavender on your cart? It's one of my favorites." The words coming out before she even realized she said it. Well there went saying no to him. With a smile Claude pushed the cart inside and closed the door behind him. Now he was in her room preparing their tea. This was the exact opposite of what she was trying to do. At this point there was nothing she could do except just try to enjoy the tea. And hope nothing terrible happened.</p><p>While she was moving her room around to accommodate the cart and space for them to sit, Claude had been busy preparing the tea. She wasn't much for conversation, but he didn't seem to mind to much. He would ask a question about her, she would sometimes answer. Some things she wouldn't answer, just uttering an apology saying how she shouldn't talk about it. Her questions would just be mirrors of his, and his answers in turn mirrored hers. Both of them had things they either wouldn't want to talk about, or couldn't talk about. At least she could relate to wanting to keeps parts of oneself private. But even despite that, it was good company.</p><p>Claude had finished his tea rather quickly, but thankfully Marianne didn't feel like she had to rush hers. Instead she chose to take her time with it. It felt like it had been to long since she had such a nice cup of lavender. About 20 minutes had passed before she finished her cup, placing it on the saucer in front of her with a satisfying clink.</p><p>"Thank you Claude, that was delicious. Perhaps we can do it again sometime." Oh Goddess. No, not that. That is the opposite of what she should be doing. She wanted to keep people away from her, not bring them back to her room for tea parties. It was to late. She already said it, and there was no backing out now. Goddess help her.</p><p>It seemed that the Goddess for once decided to answer her. Albeit in an unconventional way. The steam of internal panicking was cutoff by the feeling of suddenly being incredibly tired. Like her body was slowing down, soon to hit the point of collapse.</p><p>"Hey are you feeling alright Marianne? You're looking pretty exhausted there." Concern crept onto his face. "You should lie down, get some rest."</p><p>"Oh, but what abo-" She had been cut off by a yawn. And a large one at that. "What about the meeting later?"</p><p>She wasn't usually one to yawn, which could be considered strange from how little she slept. The appeal sleeping was lost to her after she started being tormented by nightmares. Why bother trying to sleep if you end up feeling worse for it? Not to say she never slept, she was human after all. But she slept very little.</p><p>Somehow Claude always seemed a step ahead. "Nah, I wouldn't worry about it. I doubt they'll be to much worth hearing. Tell you what though, if you really want to know what happened I'll write down notes for you. Sound good?"</p><p>That didn't sounds bad at all. To be honest she didn't want to be surrounded by strangers anyway. "Well I guess it would be ok to rest for a bit then." With how tired she was, it honestly sounded great. With little argument she crawled her way into her bed, almost surprised she was able to make it that far. </p><p>"Let me take care of all of this, you just focus on getting rest." Claude was already putting everything back into place. In no time at all he was already heading out the door.</p><p>"It was lovely to meet you Marianne, we'll do this again when you're a bit less tired." She didn't even process his goodbye, it would have taken to much energy. The last thing she heard before she couldn't keep her eyes open was the door being softly closed, as her new friend made his way out. Her only hope at that point was for her rest to be peaceful. And only one thought was on her mind.</p><p>It was the best cup of lavender she had had in ages. Made even better by the fact that for the first time, she had someone she could actually enjoy it with. With a positive though on her mind, she finally drifted to sleep.</p><p>For once her dreams were not filled with monsters and sorrow. Dread creeping from every which way. Instead it was light and full of happiness.</p><p>Her dreams were filled with lavender and deer.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Marianne deserves to have pleasant happy dreams every day of her life.</p><p>This is the start of a series I hope to be able to work on more of Marianne meeting/befriending the other Golden Deer.</p><p>The second chapter is going to be Claude's point of view.</p><p>Edit: Floweringlight's comment made me realize I should probably add a couple tags to be safe in case people aren't ok with what is implied to happen so I added new tags and made the rating T</p></blockquote></div></div>
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